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Earlier this week, Netflix did something strange: It released viewership statistics. Just to be clear, the streaming giant has done this before — one more top 10 carousel on your screen here, drop a nuggets about the popularity of Strange things there — but the numbers vary. These numbers are especially. Unlike previous Netflix metrics, calculated anything watched for at least two minutes as a “view”, Statistics published on Tuesday shows and movies are ranked by total hours watched — and they’re global. While Netflix has previously been tight-lipped about its viewership, this appears to be a vast hole in the inventory. “‘Unreasonable.’ BS. ‘ ‘Picked cherries.’ ‘Uncensored.’ We’ve had a lot of feedback on the metrics over the years,” Pablo Perez De Rosso, Netflix’s head of content strategy, planning and analytics, wrote in a blog post.” So this summer we’re back to the drawing board.” The move seemed bold, daring.
It’s okay, like Todd Spangler shown in Diversity, “A plasticity.” The streaming service now has some 213 million subscribersand it wants the world to know they’re gobbling up hours of content. In the past, Netflix has found a lot of mysteries behind the popularity of its movies and shows — everyone seems to be talking about it. Bird box, but who actually watched them all? Not disclosing details allows the company to dodge. But now that it has numbers showing its overwhelming viewership, it is claiming bragging rights.
This data transparency also comes at a time when Netflix needs to show all it can. After years of being a prime target for streaming content, it’s starting lose cool points—If not real eyeballs — for newer services like HBO Max and Disney +. If given a splashy new website remind you that Red Notice is the biggest deal in the world right now, it’s in the company’s best interest to make it happen. By the way, that’s not a joke. According to Netflix numbers, the action comedy starring The Rock, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot was watched in 148.72 million hours globally in its first week of release.
But what does that really mean? It is very difficult to say. Red Notice one hour and 57 minutes long, which means that nearly 78 million households watched the entire video, or 149 million subscribers watched about half of it, or 300 million watched about 30 minutes, or… you understand. But that’s not really the point; the problem is now you’re wondering if people watched so many hours Sand dunes or Ted Lasso or something else on a competing streaming service. Throwing in the numbers is Netflix’s way of showing how relevant a streamer is in the pop culture conversation. In fact, other services also dare to publish their numbers.
